IMPORTANT NEW ADVANCE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 4 February 1942, Page 5

IMPORTANT NEW ADVANCE

RUSSIANS IN UKRAINE GERMAN REINFORCEMENTS SENT (Rec., 9.50 a.m.) London, I eb., 3. An important new advance by Soviet troops in the Ukraine is indicated in a Moscow wireless report that Gavrilovko has been recaptured. 1 his village is some eighty miles south-south-west of Kharkov, which brings the Russians to within 100 miles of the key communication and industrial centre of Dnepropetrovsk The Stockholm correspondent of the “Daily Express” reports that 20 of the 25 German divisions withdrawn from the Russian front early in December for special training as storm troops in the coming spring offensive have been sent back to the Eastern Front following an urgent demand from Hitler’s generals for reinforcements to prevent a general Russian break-through. The Tass news agency says the whole railway line from the Donetz Basin to Moscow has been reopened. The hrst trainloads of Donetz coal have already reached factories in the Moscow region.

The recapture of an important place jon the central front identified by the letter V is reported in to-day’s Moscow communique. The locality was taken before the Germans had time to de stroy it and about 1000 Germans were killed. Both Moscow and Berlin speak of German counter-attacks. The Germans i claim that these have been successful land that a number of villages have i been recaptured. The Russians say ! the attacks were repulsed with heavy ! losses. Fierce fighting is still continuing on the southern front round Kharkov, where Marshal Timoshenko is reported to be launching a mass attack. The German news agency describes how, in wave after wave, Red army troops are hurling themselves against the city’s strong defences, and says that violent fighting is going on in a raging blizzard. The evacuation by the Russians of Theodosia, in the Crimea, is announced in a Moscow communique. No reasons are given. A German broadcast last night said that the Russians were flinging in more reserves and panzer divisions. It added that the Germans “who are fighting in defence of their homeland” must meet these mass Russian offen sives with the greatest .determination. Moscow radio said that a terrific struggle is raging around the shores of Lake Ilmen. The Russians are tightening their stranglehold on the German communications at Novgorod. • oVIET COUNTER-MEASURES London, Feb., 2. The Red Army expects that the Germans will use between 6000 and 7000 new tanks produced this winter for the spring offensive, says the Moscow corj responednt of “The Times.” The Lufti waffe has since December, considerably reduced its operations, it is believed be i cause of the lack of ski fittings for the ! undercarriages. The Luftwaffe will unquestionably again operate in the spring, but RusI sians have less regard for it than for i the tanks and the current Russian J offensives are intended to destroy the i maximum number of men and tanks, and also embarrass the potential offensive by maintaining the initiative. This, according to the latest reports from all sectors, they are succeeding in doing. ENEMY TRANSPORTS SUNK A Soviet submarine in northern waters sank three enemy transports totalling 15,000 tons and another sank a transport of 5000 tons. —8.0. W. and PA.